Claudio Abbado | Claudio Abbado - The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon and Decca

Abbado and Beethoven! Abbado’s extraordinary emotional depth and commitment in his interpretation of these symphonies is on display in this clip from the 2nd mvt of the 3rd symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker. This clip is taken from performances in Rome 2001 available both in audio and video.
Watch now Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": II. Marcia funèbre. Adagio assai (Live at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome / 2001) by Claudio Abbado
 Abbado Beethoven Symphony 3 EV cover new
 Abbado Beethoven Symphony 3 EV cover new
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 “Eroica”
Berliner Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado
VÖ: June 19, 2020
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The world-renowned conductor Claudio Abbado recorded for Deutsche Grammophon over the course of four decades, making countless landmark albums which sound as fresh as ever today. In honour of his exceptional career, DG is releasing a strictly limited and hand-numbered edition of Abbado’s complete recordings for the Yellow Label, Decca and Philips. Encompassing an enormous range of repertoire, the edition includes hundreds of the acclaimed performances the conductor inspired from some of the world’s greatest artists and orchestras.
Abbado - The Complete Recordings on DG & Decca
Abbado - The Complete Recordings on DG & Decca
CLAUDIO ABBADO
The Complete Recordings on DG & Decca
Works by:
Beethoven · Brahms · Mahler
Mendelssohn · Mozart · Ravel
Schubert · Verdi
and many more
VÖ: February 17, 2023
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Accompanying the limited 257-CD & 8-DVD edition are 16 digital albums presenting these same recordings, gathering Abbado’s complete recordings per composer.

Digital Albums

Claudio Abbado recorded two remarkable albums of Wagner’s music with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Watch Bryn Terfel below singing Wagner in rehearsal with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker for a concert in Berlin in November 2000. The aria, “Die Frist ist um” from Der Fliegende Holländer was recorded as part of a whole audio album of Wagner arias sung by Bryn Terfel.
Watch now Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer, WWV 63 / Act I: "Die Frist ist um" - "Ew'ge Vernichtung, nimm uns auf" (Feat. Bryn Terfel) by Claudio Abbado

Abbado conducts Wagner with the Berliner Philharmoniker

Carmen! Watch Claudio Abbado so obviously enjoying conducting a gala performance of the overture to Bizet’s opera with the Berliner Philharmoniker from 1997.
Watch now Berlin Gala 1997: Bizet - Carmen Overture by Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado Berlin Galas 1997 & 1998

Claudio Abbado’s 2001 recording of Verdi’s Falstaff features Bryn Terfel, who stars in the title role, as well as Thomas Hampson and Adrianne Pieczonka, accompanied by the Berlin Philharmoniker. This recording showcases the skill and artistry of some of the greatest performers of our time, bringing Verdi’s beloved opera to life with unparalleled vivacity, humor, and lyricism.
Falstaff 0028947119423
Falstaff 0028947119423
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Falstaff
Terfel · Pieczonka
Hampson · Röschmann
Shtoda · Diadkova
Rundfunkchor Berlin
Berliner Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado
VÖ: July 2, 2001
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Performance Teasers & Interviews

Claudio Abbado 1933 - 2014

Watch Claudio Abbado and Yuja Wang perform the extraordinary virtuosic music of Prokofiev’s 3rd piano concerto in the clip in the video shelf above. The excerpt is taken from our visual album of their concert together at the Lucerne Festival 2009.
Abbado / Karajan - Lucerne Festival 2009 Visual Album Cover
Abbado / Karajan - Lucerne Festival 2009 Visual Album Cover
LUCERNE FESTIVAL 2009
Claudio Abbado · Yuja Wang
PROKOFIEV
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26

MAHLER
Symphony No. 1 in D Major
Yuja Wang
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Claudio Abbado
VÖ: March 25, 2022
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Enjoy Claudio Abbado performing Tchaikovsky’s polonaise from his opera ‘Eugene Onegin’ in the video shelf above. He conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker. The excerpt is taken from our visual of his 1998 Berlin Gala below, which is also available as an audio album.

Claudio Abbado Berlin Galas 1997 & 1998

Quote Cards

Claudio Abbado’s special gift was to inspire the musicians he collaborated with for many memorable and joint interpretations. A highlight of his relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker was a recording of Mahler’s 5th symphony, which is now available for the first time on vinyl.
Mahler: Symphonie No. 5
Mahler: Symphonie No. 5
GUSTAV MAHLER
Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor
Berliner Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado
VÖ: January 20, 2023
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Claudio Abbado and Martha Argerich were a partnership that ran across the decades, including in terms of their recordings for DG. You can now hear their 1994 interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Berliner Philharmoniker in the high-quality spatial listening experience of Dolby Atmos®.
Martha Argerich - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1; The Nutcracker Suite Dolby Atmos Cover
Martha Argerich - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1; The Nutcracker Suite Dolby Atmos Cover
PETER TCHAIKOVSKY
Piano Concerto No. 1
Martha Argerich
Nicolas Economou *
Berliner Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado
VÖ: February 10, 2023
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Watch the clip in video shelf of Claudio Abbado conducting a rousing performance of Ravel’s Rapsodie Espagnole with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The excerpt here is taken from the 4th mvt ‘Feria’, part of a full performance of Rapsodie Espagnole that you can hear as part of our audio album of the Berlin Gala 1997 featured below.
The Berlin Gala - A Salute To Carmen 0028945758321
The Berlin Gala - A Salute To Carmen 0028945758321
THE BERLIN GALA 1997
A Salute to Carmen
BIZET: Carmen (Auszüge/Excerpts)

RAVEL: Rapsodie espagnol

SARASATE: Carmen Fantaisie

RACHMANINOV: Rhapsodie über
ein Thema von Paganini op. 43

BRAHMS: Ungarischer Tanz No. 5
von Otter · Terfel · Alagna
Shaham · Pletnev
Berliner Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado
VÖ: June 20, 2008
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The Legacy of a Legend – Deutsche Grammophon Pays Homage to Claudio Abbado With a Comprehensive Edition

Claudio Abbado Complete Recordings
Claudio Abbado Complete Recordings
02/06/2023
The world-renowned conductor Claudio Abbado recorded for Deutsche Grammophon over the course of four decades, making countless landmark albums which sound as fresh as ever today. In honour of his exceptional career, DG is releasing a strictly limited and hand-numbered edition of Abbado’s complete recordings for the Yellow Label, Decca and Philips. Encompassing an enormous range of repertoire, the edition includes hundreds of the acclaimed performances the conductor inspired from some of the world’s greatest artists and orchestras.
Claudio Abbado – The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon & Decca is set for release on 17 February 2023, in time to mark what would have been his 90th birthday in June 2023. Just 2650 copies of this unique 257‑CD and 8-DVD set, housed in beautifully designed packaging, will be issued.
Unquestionably one of the most multifaceted and influential musicians of recent times, Abbado was as much at home in the concert hall as he was in the opera house. He both championed new music and kept up with the latest developments in historical performance practice, while not swayed by some of its more dogmatic ideas. He summed up his philosophy as follows: “the term ‘great conductor’ has no meaning for me – it is the composer who is great”. This was no empty rhetoric. After meticulous preparation, involving the consultation of original sources, he almost always conducted from memory.
A team player rather than an authoritarian figure, Abbado was quick to establish a rapport with his musicians, both on and off stage. He rejuvenated the Berliner Philharmoniker in the post-Karajan years, and devoted much of his time and energy to founding new ensembles, including the European Community Youth Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Orchestra Mozart, as well as acting as mentor to individuals such as Gustavo Dudamel. With its vast scope, this edition offers unparalleled access to the many and varied strands of Abbado’s long career.
The maestro was a man of few words and preferred to let his gestures do the talking. This was as true in the studio as it was on the concert podium. “One of Claudio’s main interests was the pursuit of beauty of sound,” recalls DG producer Christopher Alder, who worked with the conductor between 1986 and 2006. That beauty is to be heard in abundance here, in finely-crafted performances spanning everything from Baroque works by Vivaldi, Bach and Pergolesi, to contemporary music by Xenakis, Nono and Salvatore Sciarrino. In between, we find a vast number of works by Mozart, the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Mahler, and much more besides.
Abbado was also one of the most respected opera conductors of his day, Music Director of both La Scala and the Vienna Staatsoper at different times in his career. That aspect of his work is generously reflected as well, in both full operas and excerpts. There are works by Mozart, Rossini and Verdi – the cornerstones of his operatic legacy – but Lohengrin, Pelléas et Mélisande and Wozzeck, among others, feature too. On DVD, moreover, we find La Cenerentola, Il barbiere di Siviglia and Janáček’s From the House of the Dead (here enjoying its first release on DVD). The other DVD content includes such treats as Peter and the Wolf with Sting/Roberto Benigni, and the 1991 Wiener Philharmoniker New Year’s Concert.
Abbado’s work with the Berliner Philharmoniker, of which he was chief conductor from 1990 to 2002 rightfully occupies a central place in this set, featuring on 60 of its 257 CDs. Not only did he expand the orchestra’s repertoire, he brought a renewed warmth and flexibility to its sound. He is also heard at the helm of the London Symphony Orchestra, of which he became principal conductor in 1979 and was music director from 1983 to 1986; Wiener Philharmoniker; Dresden Staatskapelle; Lucerne Festival Orchestra; Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester; and Orchestra Mozart, among others. In notes written especially for this edition, Alfred Brendel describes Abbado’s ability to get the best from any ensemble: “his attention towards bringing out the qualities of each player and blending them into a unique interpretive whole was exemplary and remains, in some ways, unique”.
The roster of singers and instrumentalists with whom Abbado recorded is equally impressive, ranging from Martha Argerich, Cecilia Bartoli and Alfred Brendel to Bryn Terfel and Yuja Wang, via Jonas Kaufmann, Evgeny Kissin and Gidon Kremer. Oboist Albrecht Mayer, who worked with him for years as a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker, says, “My work with Claudio and my personal dealings with him were without doubt the greatest gift I have received in the whole of my life as a musician.”
Claudio Abbado – The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon & Decca is accompanied by one hardcover and two paperback books which provide eight essays on significant stages of Abbado’s career; reminiscences from his producers and colleagues; production dates and detailed tracklistings; numerous rare photos; and a foreword by the conductor’s four children, Daniele, Alessandra, Sebastian and Misha. The individual albums are presented in their original cover jackets, while the collection as a whole is presented in a high-quality library-style box.
As part of his contribution to this very special limited edition, pianist Evgeny Kissin finds the perfect words to sum up the legacy of Claudio Abbado. “The great maestro’s art will undoubtedly live and continue to bring joy to many millions of people, as long as mankind exists.”
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